A subtle sleeper of a debut from celebrated Korean American video-essayist Kogonada, COLUMBUS has been acclaimed for its engaging performances and visual splendor. The place is Columbus, Indiana, a small city over-endowed with modernist architectural glories by the likes of I.M. Pei, Eero Saarinen, Richard Meier, and Robert A.M. Stern. The central characters are Casey (Richardson), a twentyish tour guide tied to the town by her love of its buildings and her devotion to her recovering-addict mother, and Jin (Cho), a Seoul-based translator estranged from his architecture-scholar father, who lies comatose in a local hospital. Chance and a cigarette bring the pair together for an adventure of conversation and self-exploration that calls to mind the smart romances of Rohmer and Linklater, embedded in compositions whose exquisite precision evokes Antonioni and Tati. DCP digital. (MR)

Tuesday, 11/7 at 8 PM: Director Kogonada is scheduled to appear for a brief Q&A following the screening.